ARAB INFILTRATOR SLAIN, ISRAELI HOSTAGE FREED

An Arab gunman infiltrated Israel from Jordan Tuesday, wounded an American tourist and held an Israeli woman soldier hostage before being shot to death by an army sniper.

The attack occurred at Kibbutz Lotan, a 60-member collective farm founded six years ago by American Jews in the desert about 30 miles north of Eilat. Lotan, which lies near the usually quiet Israel-Jordan border, is sponsored by the international movement for Reform Judaism.

Laurie Rosen, 25, of Englewood, N.J., who has been living on the kibbutz since June, suffered a slight shoulder wound and was hospitalized at Josephtal Medical Centere in Eilat.

Army officials said the attacker, who was wearing a Jordanian army uniform, acted alone and appeared emotionally unstable.

''He was very confused. I`m not sure he had a good plan what to do,''

said Maj. Gen. Matan Vilnai.

Israeli officials did not identify the attacker, but a military spokesman in Amman, Jordan, told reporters a soldier named Farid Ali Mustapha was believed to have crossed into Israel after deserting a border post.

The man, armed with an M-16 rifle, apparently climbed the 7-foot border fence about 11 a.m. and came upon three women headed for the date grove at the kibbutz. He shot Rosen and seized a soldier who lives at the kibbutz. The third woman fled.

''He shouted something about a brother and fired. It all happened very quickly,'' recalled Rosen, who said the attacker spoke English.

The hostage, Osnat Lev, said the gunman had ranted about a dead sister.

''He said the Jews killed her and now he comes to kill everybody,'' Lev said.

Within moments, a special antiterrorist army unit arrived and cornered the attacker and the hostage in a kibbutz tool shed. They talked to him for about three hours and gave him a Koran at his request. But eventually the troops stormed the shed and an army sniper shot him.

It was decided to kill him, said army spokesman Col. Raanan Gissin, because ''he was acting very erratically and you didn`t know what he was going to do next.''

There have been two other attacks this year from across the 250-mile border with Jordan, army officials said. An Israeli soldier was killed and two others wounded in May in an attack claimed by the Abu Musa dissident Palestinian guerrilla faction. The attackers returned to Jordan and reportedly were captured by Jordanian soldiers.

In March, a Jordanian soldier fired on an Israeli patrol from across the border. The Israeli returned fire, killing the attacker. Two Israeli soldiers were injured.

In an unrelated development, a child was seriously wounded Tuesday night in a gun battle between Israeli soldiers and a Jewish settler in the West Bank that broke out by accident.

Settler Daniel Hamtsani was driving home to Ariel with his two children when he saw a flash of light at the side of the road, an army spokesman said. Believing he was under attack by Palestinians, he stopped his car and opened fire. But the light belonged to soldiers, who returned fire.

The spokesman said Hamtsani`s 18-month-old son was shot in the head, his 4-year-old son was slightly wounded and Hamtsani was shot in the shoulder.

Chief of Staff Dan Shomron said on the armed forces radio station,

''Jordan is doing its best to prevent infiltrations, but sometimes it`s not successful.''

Israel Television said Fatah-Uprising, another breakaway Palestinian faction, had claimed responsibility for Tuesday`s attack, but it did not say where the claim was issued.